Up and Out of It
by Passion4Writing1218
Summary: Massie befriends a new girl from New Jersey, but the rest of the clique become jealous. Will this new girl become the next hottest thing? Or will she be tossed out faster than last season's knee highs?
1. Chapter 1 ::Change::

Jessica Garrett stepped lightly out of her family's Mercedes and stared at the large mansion in front of her. Her heart felt heavy.

"Doesn't this look _great_, sweetie?" Jessica's mom, Deborah, exclaimed. She put her arm around Jessica, who rolled her eyes.

"Not really," she said, shrugging Deborah's arm off. "I like our house back home in New Jersey."

"Oh, Jess. Of course it doesn't seem like home yet," Deborah said. "But it will soon, I promise. Westchester is going to be a great adventure for us! I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends."

"It's not like I didn't have friends back home," Jess said sarcastically. She picked up her purple polka-dot suitcase and rolled it up the walk to the front door. "This will _never_ be home," she muttered once Deborah was out of sight. "Never."

"Jess, come down here please! Dinner's ready!" Deborah called 2 hours later. Jessica was lying on her bed, the only object in her large, oval shaped room. She had out her Mac-book and was trying to IM her best friend from back home in New Jersey.

**KATIEBUG: Jess, I'm sure Westchester will b great**

**JESSYG: true that, Katie but it'll never b home**

**KATIEBUG: jessy, just chilax, k?**

**JESSYG: whatevs**

**KATIEBUG: so…**

**JESSYG: my moms calling me 4 dinner**

**KATIEBUG: whats a cookin?**

**JESSYG: McDonalds**

**KATIEBUG: :-P**

**JESSYG: tell me bout it. C U Soon!**

**KATIEBUG: copy that**

**JESSYG: hasta la vista**

Jess logged off and put her Mac-book under her bed. Snatching up her slippers, she walked out the door and down the marble floored hallways towards the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" she asked as she sat down on a black stool. She already knew, though, eyeing the McDonalds take out boxes sitting on the counter.

"Chicken Wings and hamburgers," sighed Deborah. "Until your father agrees to hire a chef."

"Speaking of my father, where is he?" Jessica asked, staring at the two empty stools next to her. She hadn't talked to him in a while. He was always too busy working.

"He's upstairs, working." Deborah said, sighing at her own words. She, too, had been at a loss of time with her own husband. Jessica suddenly felt bad for her mother. She grabbed a burger from one of the take-out boxes.

"As always," she agreed. She un-wrapped her burger and took a big bite. "And what happened to dieting?"

"We'll start dieting when we have a chef to cook healthy meals and money to pay for them," Deborah said, grabbing a box of Chicken Wings. "Dieting is so expensive these days." This worried Jess. She put down her burger. She knew her family had money. After all, they had upgraded from a cozy shack to a mansion, hadn't they? She just didn't want to believe they were having 'money hardships', as her mother called them.

"Yes, of course we all know that's going to happen," Jess smirked. "Every time our family tries to diet, we always end up going back to fast food and junk like that."

Deborah didn't smile. She sighed heavily, and left the table. Jess instantly regretted her words and threw out her hamburger. "I'm going to go upstairs now," she said lightly. There was no reply. Jess ignored her mother's coldness and ran back to her room.

She turned her computer back on and logged on. None of her friends were online. So she closed her computer, pulled out her iPod and jammed the earphones into her ears. She turned on her favorite song and lay down on her bed, listening to the music, and slowly drifted off to sleep…

* * *

"MOTHER!" screamed Massie Block, sitting upright in her bed. "How could you do this to me? I've already been through this before with Claire!"

"Yes, and look what happened? You guys are good friends now!" Massie's mother, Kendra, said. "I'm sure you and Jessica will be great friends also."

"Mother, it took forever for Claire and I to become friends. You never know!" Massie exclaimed.

"Massie, that was all up to you. Claire just needed a friend. And besides, Jessica is our neighbor, and you need to be friendly towards her. You know how everything goes, sweetie." Kendra smiled sweetly, which made Massie want to gag.

"UGHH!" Massie screamed. She chucked a pillow at her closet door. "This _so _isn't happening!"

"Yes, it is, Mass. Now you get your outfit ready and you come downstairs. Immediately," Kendra ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Massie retorted. Kendra sighed and left the room, her floor length skirt swishing behind her. "Yes, of course I'll be nice to my new stupid neighbor."

When Massie saw Jessica, however, her world flopped. Instead of an overall wearing, Keds bearing loser like Claire was at first, Massie's jaw dropped at the blond haired, blue eyed beauty wearing a jean mini skirt, pink tank top and golden flats.

"Maybe I was wrong about her," Massie said, re-thinking her decision to kick this Jessica girl out faster than last season's knee highs. Jessica approached the car nervously, not exactly sure of what to do. Massie opened the door and slid over one seat, making room.

"Hey, I'm Massie Block. I live in that house down the street, you know, the _really _big one?" Massie smiled innocently and Jessica climbed into the car and sat down.

"Yeah, I've heard," Jessica replied. "I'm Jessica Garrett. I just moved here from New Jersey." She fixed her skirt and fiddled with the amethyst ring on her finger.

"Wow, that's a ways away," Massie sympathized,

Alicia, Kristen, and Dylan all fussed over the new girl.

"Hey Jessica, I'm Alicia Rivera. I love that jewelry!"

"Hey, Jessica! My name is Dylan. I love your outfit!"

"Hi Jessica, I'm Kristen. OMG I heart your shoes!"

Jessica wasn't sure of what to do with all of the attention. She smiled, agreed, and nodded along with everything the girls said. Massie felt like a superstar, introducing this new famous girl to the rest of her clique. But she couldn't help feeling a bit jealous of this new girl. After all, all the attention _was_ supposed to be focused on her.

"So, Jessica, where'd you move from?" Kristen asked curiously. She had to lean forward in her spot in the back seat. Jessica turned her head and faced Kristen.

"New Jersey," Jessica said. "We lived in a small village near the ocean."

"Wow, that's cool," Alicia cut in before Kristen could answer. "I've always wanted to be able to tan by the sea. Plus, I heard there are tons of hot Spanish guys that go to ocean beaches."

"Well, not really," Jessica smiled. She didn't want to admit that she wasn't really into guys. She was too busy surfing to notice any 'hot Spanish guys'. When she saw Alicia's disappointed face, she made up for her last comment. "There aren't any Spanish guys that I saw, but there were _tons_ of hot surfer guys!"

All four girls exchanged excited glances. "Send me to New Jersey!" Alicia said, causing everyone to laugh.

"I heart that," Kristen said. "And I absolutely ah-dore surfing. It just looks so cool!"

"Way to spazz, Kris," Massie laughed. Kristen blushed. Massie spied the school coming up on their left. "Oh, Jess. That's our school, OCD, right there. You're going to love it!"

"I think it might be hard to love a school called OCD," Jessica said, gazing at the large brick building. All the girls laughed. Jessica blushed. "That wasn't supposed to be funny," she said. All the girls immediately stopped laughing. Dylan coughed.

"No, Jess. It's a weird name. I know," Alicia said, giggling a little to herself.

"It stands for Octavian Country Day school," Dylan added. Jessica smiled, and knocked her forehead with her palm. The girls laughed, and so did Jess. It was easy to be herself with these girls.

"But seriously, Jess. You're going to love it. Trust me," Massie stated, as if she knew exactly how much Jessica would love it. Jessica smiled and nodded her head. She tried her best to convince herself that Massie was right. After all, she liked Westchester alright so far.

* * *

OCD was the biggest, most confusing school Jess had ever been to. But it was nice to have Massie by her side every minute, telling her where all the classrooms where and how to "get lost" to avoid the worst classes.

"So next on my schedule is yoga meditation," Jess said, looking at her schedule.

"Oh, that's over there in that room," Massie said, pointing down the hall towards a room with glass walls. "That's a good class," Massie said. "No need to ditch there. Oh, and the teacher always lets you have your cell phone out, so the girls and I always text during that class." Jessica had a feeling that Massie, Kristen, Alicia and Dylan were very, very close. She wondered if she'd ever be that close with them.

"Oh," Jess said. She actually had no plan of ditching classes or texting during class, but if cell phones were aloud then great, but Jess and her friends never used to text very much. Only if they really had to, which was a very rare occasion.

"Oh, you know what?" Massie said, suddenly stopping in her tracks. She turned to face Jessica, who had stopped also. "I don't have your cell number!" She dug out her phone and handed it to Jessica. Jess pulled out her own phone and handed it to Massie. She added herself to Massie's contacts, and Massie did the same.

"There," Massie sighed. "Now I'll give your number to the girls and give you theirs so we can all text each other!" Massie said excitedly. Then she lead Jess to the yoga/meditation classroom and waved goodbye. She was going to art class with Dylan.

***

"So how was your first yoga class?" Massie asked as she met up with Jess after class.

"It was wonderful," Jess said sarcastically.

"Hey Mass!" a blond girl said as she eagerly bounced up. "What's up? I haven't seen you at all today! I had a doctor's appointment, so I couldn't get a ride."

"Hey Claire," Massie smiled. "It's fine, we had your spot filled." Claire's eyes opened wide. Massie had replaced her? That couldn't be possible. So soon? "Have you met Jessica?" Massie asked, gesturing toward a blonde haired blue eyed beauty Claire had never seen before. Claire looked at Jessica and shook her head as a wave of confusion spread over her face. "Jessica, meet Claire," Massie said, loving the attention Jessica was giving her. "Claire, this is Jessica. She's new here, and a neighbor!"

"Oh, we'll be seeing a lot of each other, then," Claire said, smiling at Jessica. She tried to be nice, but her jealousy began to bubble over. Here was this new girl, and she was Massie's new bff. When Claire was new, Massie had been a total jerk to her. "I have to go," she said suddenly, knowing her anger would get the better of her if she stayed. "English class, you know," she said, faking a smile. Jessica nodded, and waved goodbye. Claire was already speeding off; she didn't want to spend another minute with this Jessica person. She had already had enough. Maybe more than enough.

"See you around, Claire," Jess called after her. Claire wanted to gag. This girl was sweet, sure, but Claire's jealousy always found her in a terrible spot, and she didn't want to push herself over the edge by hanging around her. Or even listening to her. She wanted her out. Out, out, up and out.

Massie and Jess had the same History class. Massie led her there and then introduced her to the teacher, Mrs. Reed. Jessica said "hi" and then walked to her own seat, across the aisle from a cute red head named Jane. Massie sucked up to the teacher for a few minutes before taking a seat on the other side of the classroom.

Jessica day dreamed through most of the lesson, until she heard a loud buzzing. She looked around the classroom. Everyone was staring directly at her. But why? She knew she had put her cell on vibrate. But, it wouldn't hurt to see for sure. So she reached into her bag and dug around for her cell. She dug through her books, pencils, pens, and folders. When she finally pulled it out, she realized it _was_ her phone buzzing. The small screen in front read _"New Txt From Massie"_. Jess flipped up the top and the buzzing stopped. She quickly shut it and was about to put it back in her bag but Mrs. Reed was faster. She snatched up the phone, and giving Jess a quick death stare she swished up the aisle and dropped the phone on her desk. It landed with a _thunk._ Jessica winced.

"Jessi-CA!" wailed Massie from across the room. Everybody laughed, but Jessica's face burned with embarassment. She took one look at Massie's blazing stare and wanted to sink into the floor, or just disappear. Either would do, as long as she didn't have to face her angry teacher or blazing classmates.

Mrs. Reed continued her lesson, but all the way through kept throwing glares at Jessica, who practically melted each time. By the time class was over, Jessica's cheeks were beet red and chili pepper hot.

"Class dismissed," called Mrs. Reed, who was sitting at her desk. Everyone leaped out of their chairs, especially Massie who bounded from her chair and skipped right out of the classroom, except for Jess. "Jessica Garrett," boomed Mrs. Reed. "Could you come here for a minute?" Jessica slowly nodded and slunk to the teacher's desk, hanging her head in shame.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mrs. Reed asked, holding up Jessica's glittery phone. The _"New Txt From Massie"_ was still blinking on the small screen.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Reed. I really am. I thought I had turned it off," Jess stated quickly. "I didn't mean to. it will never happen again!" she sadly continued her tale of sorrow as all her embarassment poured out. Soon she felt tears sting her eyes. "I really really am sorry."

She knew she had hit a soft spot with Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed grabbed a tissue and started dabbing at her eyes. "You know, Jessica, school policy is that if I see a phone in class, I have to give it to the principal, who will deal with you." Jessica's eyes widened and she wiped a tear from her cheek. "But seeing as you are new to school and you didn't know, I'll let it slide this time." Jess felt a wave of relief wash over her. She was calm.

"Mrs. Reed, do you have a daughter?" Jess asked, deciding to go with flattery.

Mrs. Reed smiled sweetly, but Jess found a glint of sorrow in her brown eyes. "No, honey. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, well, you're just so good with girls, I just figured you'd be a great mother," Jess said sweetly.

"Here, I'll write you a note for your next class, explaining that you were here," Mrs. Reed said, pulling out a small red note card. She scrawled in perfectly neat handwriting for a few seconds before handing the note to Jess.

"Thank you so much," Jess said, taking the note in her hands. She took a peek at her schedule. "Umm...do you think you could tell me where the science room is?" she asked. Mrs. Reed nodded.

"Out my door, down the hall, turn the corner, and it will be the first classroom on your left."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Have a good day, Jessica." Mrs. Reed said. Jessica thankd her and then headed out the door, on her way to science class. She hoped her science class would go better than history did.

***

At lunch period, Jessica didn't know where to sit. She scanned the cafeteria crowd, and immediatly decided what cliques were which. She found a bunch of nerdy looking girls who she assumed were the geeks. And then the wanna be's, who dressed like supermodels but didn't have the bodies or the beauty to get away with it. And then she found the loners; five girls sitting alone and eating disgusting foods and shoving it down their throats like it was their last meal.

"Jess! Over here!" someone called. Jess turned, and recognized Alicia calling her. Alicia was sitting with Massie, Dylan, Kristen and Claire at the table in the middle of the cafeteria. As Jessica started toward the table, she noticed Claire make an ugly face and then get up and leave. Nobody noticed except for Jess. She felt an un-welcome wave of nausea. She wondered if all new students felt like that on their first day.


	2. Chapter 2 ::The Romance::

Jess stood with Massie, Dylan, Alicia and Kristen after school, waiting for the Block's driver to show up. Claire had 'mysteriously' disappeared, saying she had a lot of work to do. Jess looked at her watch. It was 3:15. School let out at 2:45. The other girls didn't seem to mind. They chatted away like little girls at a playground.

"Oh my gosh you guys! Briarwood lets out at 3:20, we should totally manhunt!" Alicia squealed. The other girls quickly agreed.

"What's Briarwood?" Jess asked quietly. All four heads turned to face her.

"What's Briarwood?!" they mimicked, shrieking and squealing. Massie turned alone to talk to her. "It's only where _all_ the guys in the whole town go! The cute ones, the hot ones, the sporty ones, the dramatic ones, the…"

"Thinking about a special someone?" joked Alicia, elbowing Massie in the gut. "Maybe somebody named _Derrick_?" Massie elbowed her back, but smiled mysteriously and muttered a very quiet 'it hurts…'

Five minutes later, as the five girls crowded behind the stone wall, watching as the doors to Briarwood let out and the guys all trooped out. Dylan pointed out her newest crush, a guy by the name of Chris Downheart. Alicia pointed out her latest crush, Nick McKaplan. And Kristen pointed out her crush, Dewey Mulberry.

"Who would _ever _crush on somebody named _Dewey Mulberry_?" shrieked Jess, getting hysterical laughing responses in return.

Finally, Massie pointed out the most very special someone, Derrick Harrington. Jess had to admit he was cute. But he must have been the most stupid guy ever. He was wearing shorts. In the winter. Then again, all guys did that occasionally. Massie's eyes glazed over and she stared open-mouthed at him, but he didn't notice her. He walked away, and just like that, the moment was over. Her eyes went back to normal, and she snapped her mouth shut. All of the other girls were watching her pathetic 'shut down' over seeing Derrick. Alicia quietly explained the relationship between the two.

It wasn't just a little crush that sparked into a little something. It was a Romeo and Juliet type of romance. It was 'soul mates who fell in love, and then escaped away into Paradise' kind of sweet. They had been neighbors and best friends since pretty much forever. And then Massie had broken the friendship by asking him if he liked her. He had said yes. They started going out. They went to parties, went out just hanging a few times, and shared a first kiss. But the relationship had pretty much ruined their friendship, making close friend-ties into awkward couple-ties. And Massie had dumped him, broken his heart, and then wanted it back. She had only dumped him because she didn't want to lose her best friend because of a relationship that most likely wouldn't end up working out. She wanted to keep her best friend. But she had lost him either way.

Jess sighed at the romantic love story. She wished she had something like that to tell. But, despite being a beautiful blond who got anything and every boy she wanted, she had no romantic stories. Sure there had been crushes and couples but nothing that amazing. Something so interesting, lovely, terribly honestly real that it was scary to think existed real. There was no way of knowing. Jess' boyfriends had come and gone. Her crushes ended with a single kiss that had no fireworks. A single date where she found they had nothing in common. She had no stories of which she had fallen in love with a best friend, broken his heart, and wanted it back. Nothing that tragic ever happens to a blond. Nothing ever happens to blonds.

However, it was an incredibly sore subject for Massie. Massie groaned and immediately ordered Alicia to shut up about Derrick. She changed the subject, seeing the Block's car coming into view. 'Forgetting completely' about Derrick, Massie chatted and chatted all the way home happily. She didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that the biggest love of her life had completely ignored her on his way out of school. But Jess knew it was killing her inside. Just like it was probably killing him.

When Jess got home, there was a 'fresh' box of pastries with a fat 'Only 330 calories each!' label on the cover. She gasped and pretended to be overwhelmed by all the calories, just like Massie would have been, but her fakeness failed her. She lifted the lid carefully and dropped it onto the counter. She took the doughy pastry in her hands. The small flakes fell off of the pastry and drifted to the floor. She took a big bite, and the gooey raspberry filling oozed into her mouth. This was Jess Heaven. She took another bite. And then another. And another, and another, and another… Soon the large pastry was all gone.

Next she grabbed a handful of blueberries, sat down on her leather sofa, clicked on the TV, and tuned in to her favorite show, _'Playing With the Guys'_. She was so in to it that she didn't notice her mother walk in with a box of jelly-filled doughnuts. She didn't notice her father walk in, his Bluetooth in his ear, muttering about some economic crisis and how the banks are going to have billion dollar bail-outs by the decade. And she didn't even notice Massie walk through the door, her black pug bean in her arms, and her cell-phone to her ear.

"Okay, be here in half an hour," Massie was saying. She shifted her cell-phone to the other ear and tried to get Jess' attention. Jess was still gazing at the TV. Chad Marc's girlfriend Diana Merrell had just made out with his brother and now they were having a _very_ intense break up. Jess' eyes were glued to the screen. Massie came around the sofa and stepped out in front of Jess, blocking her view of the TV.

"Move, move, this is the best part!" Jess exclaimed. Massie's eyes widened, and, as if for the first time, Jess realized that it was Massie standing in front of her. "M-Massie, I'm sorry. It's just, this is my favorite show and it's just getting to the good part." Jess' eyes softened Massie's stony façade, and she came and sat down next to Jess, revealing the TV once again.

"What show is this?" Massie asked, lifting her eyebrows. "I've never seen it before."

"Oh, it's called _Playing With the Boys_, it hasn't aired with a new episode in awhile. It's such a good show. I used to watch it all the time before I moved here. It doesn't play as much anymore. I don't know why," Jess explained, her eyes never leaving the screen. Massie seemed to hate it, which bugged Jess. She commented all the way through about how stupid Chad was and how his girlfriend was a precious keep-sake who may like other guys but deserves another chance. She commented on how hot Chad's brother was and how drop-dead ugly Chad was. She said the show probably has enough money to at least get a hot British guy to play the character, instead of a cheap, ugly guy with a fake accent from Louisiana. Jess said that he was from Texas. Massie called her a stalker.

"Oh, I have to go," Massie said as soon as the episode was over. "I'm expecting guests. Or, actually, my parents are having guests and I have to be there." Massie smiled sweetly. "This was…fun. We'll have to do this again sometime. But maybe we'll watch something with some better, hotter actors," Massie said, laughing. Jess tried to smile. Massie waved and then headed out the door. Jess sighed, and then went back to watching. She couldn't miss the next episode!


End file.
